Ivory is priceless: Latta shoots Mystics past Stars; Hughes injured

Washington overcame rocky second and fourth quarters Wednesday night to come away with a 66-63 win over San Antonio.

The Mystics (12-7) scored just six points in the second quarter, entering halftime down 27-38.  Mystics guard Ivory Latta called it "the worst quarter we've had."

The struggles for Washington continued as the Mystics made just one field goal in the fourth quarter, but made up for it at the free-throw line, going 12-for-12.

They finished 18-for-22 on the night, whereas San Antonio (6-16) made just five in its six attempts.

"We tried to put ourselves in that position, we told them in the start of the fourth quarter they're tired, they've been on the road attack, attack, attack," Mystics head coach Mike Thibault said. "Try to get them in foul trouble to see if we can get to the line because we're not making enough other shots.

"See if we can get to the line and that really worked, that was the one good thing we did and we locked up defensively in the second half. We played really good defense. The first half, though, I thought somebody kidnapped my team."

But it was a crucial step out of bounds by Jia Perkins that may have cost the Stars their first road win of the season. The Stars are now 0-11 in away games and had a 3-game home winning game streak on the line for the Mystics.

"It was a great game. We lost by 30 to this team in San Antonio, so we did a great job tonight. We just played last night but no excuses," Stars assistant coach Vicki Johnson said. "Our team is a little tired, however, they came out, and they fought to the end. We had a chance to win, or tie and go into overtime."

Hill scored Washington's only fourth-quarter field goal at the 2:35 mark to give a 64-56 lead before San Antonio went on a 7-0 run.

The Stars were down just 63-64, when they inbounded the ball with 19 seconds left on the clock. After holding the ball for the final possession, Jia Perkins got the ball on the far right side of the court and approached the arc for a last-second 3-pointer when her foot stepped just over the line.

Washington would get possession with seven seconds remaining and secure the game with two Ivory Latta free throws.

Latta finished with 23 points for the Mystics. Just two other Mystics finished in double figures—Tayler Hill with 13 and Tierra Ruffin-Pratt with 10.

Starters Stefanie Dolson (6), Emma Meesseman (2) and Natasha Cloud (2) combined for just 10 points.

San Antonio was a similar scoring situation as Perkins (23), Kayla McBride (18) and Sophia Young-Malcolm (17) combined for all but five of the team's points.

"Best part about this game is that hopefully in two weeks people will forget about it, and it's just another win in the standings," Thibault said. "I told our players there's games like Chicago the other night when we lose a game and as a coach you feel okay because you played hard, and you did smart things, but the ball didn't go in. Tonight we won, and I am going to go home miserable, so it's one of those. "

With just under five minutes remaining in the second quarter, Danielle Robinson collided with her own coach on a hustle play, sending him into the bench. Hughes had to be carted off the floor on a stretcher.

A team representative said Hughes "is doing well" after the game when contacted by Swish Appeal.